1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an ambulatory apparatus and methods for monitoring and recording the position of the body and the extent of motion in each position of the body of a human or a lower animal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A human or lower animal can engage in a wide range of body movements. The observation of such body positions and movements can provide much valuable information to medical practitioners and researchers.
Direct visual observations of body positions and related movements in each position are labor intensive, time consuming and tedious. Moreover, direct visual observations provide only a limited range of qualitative information, which is itself subject to question as such observations themselves may cause the subject to become conscious of and thereby alter his or her movements.
Activity monitors have been developed for observing and quantifying certain aspects of bodily motions. However, existing monitors do not allow for the identification and recording of basic body positions or the level of movement activity being experienced while the body is in such basic positions. For example: (1) the invention of Johnson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,590) measures only body motion during sleep, (2) Colon's invention (U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,013) measures activity of the wrist, (3) the invention of Simkins et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,742) generates voltage signals during epilepsy seizures, (4) the integrated movement analyzing system of Cusimano et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,651) uses body electrodes tethered to recording apparatus to measure muscle activity, (5) LaCourse et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,610) use mercury switches contained in a body suit to measure activity, (6) Callaway's invention (U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,206) detects body movement when a patient is alighting from bed preparatory to ambulation, and (7) an activity monitor using a single mercury tilt switch developed by Florin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,562) attaches to an alarm to signal a patient's body position change from the supine position. None of this related art is seen to provide for ambulatory, non-tethered identification and recording of various basic body positions or the level of movement activity being experienced while the body is in such basic body positions. Knowledge of this level of movement activity makes it possible to distinguish between various forms of bodily activities that might be performed in the same basic body position; for example, to distinguish walking from merely standing upright.
An apparatus or method for monitoring and recording the basic positions of the body and the extent of motion of a body in each such positions could overcome the above noted disadvantages of prior monitors, and would be a valuable tool in many areas of medicine, including: (1) research, diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders and neurological abnormalities (e.g., epilepsy and hyperactivity), (2) for reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), where it has been shown that babies sleeping in the prone position are more likely associated with an increased risk of crib deaths, (3) osteoporosis research, where the effects of weight bearing are studied on bone development and atrophy, (4) for the bedridden, to reduce the risk of bed sores, (5) treatment of various medical conditions, such as post-surgical recovery or certain forms of arthritis, where maintaining a minimum amount of time standing or sitting is considered an important part of the treatment, and (6) in addition to human applications, for the study of the effects of medications and the environment on the positional activity and behavior of lower animals.
For example, for sleep disorders such as sleepwalking, diagnosis and treatment evaluation has been hampered by the problems associated with recording relatively rare events which are not typically remembered by the patient. Thus, the number, time of occurrence and pattern of motor behavior for the typical patient's sleepwalking events has therefore never been adequately monitored and recorded. Doing so would require at least minute by minute recording of the patient's body positions over many days while the patient stays in the comfort and convenience of their own home.
Recognizing the need for an improved apparatus or method for monitoring and recording body positions and the extent of motion in each such position, it is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide a novel ambulatory, body position monitor having additional recording and alarm-sounding capabilities.